Boris Johnson: 'Economic equality not possible'

Boris Johnson says he does not "believe that economic equality is possible",
suggesting that natural differences between human beings will always mean
that some will succeed and others will fail

10:05AM GMT 28 Nov 2013

Giving the annual Centre for Policy Studies Margaret Thatcher lecture in London the Mayor of London argued that economic equality will never be possible because natural differences between human beings will always mean some people would always find it easier to get ahead than others.

“Whatever you may think of the value of IQ tests, it is surely relevant to a conversation about equality that as many as 16 per cent of our species have an IQ below 85, while about 2 per cent have an IQ above 130,” he said.

He said: “I don’t believe that economic equality is possible; indeed, some measure of inequality is essential for the spirit of envy and keeping up with the Joneses and so on that it is a valuable spur to economic activity.”

He added that free markets involved competition between “human beings who are far from equal in raw ability”.